Kings and queens of the hit list

WHO were the paperback giants of 1996 in Britain and Ireland? Yet again it was a case of round up the usual suspects as Stephen King, John Grisham, Wilbur Smith, Catherine Cookson, Dick Francis and Patricia Cornwell dominated the top ten. Indeed, both King and Cookson figured twice in the top twenty.

This time last year I thought the notion of serialising King's The Green Mile (it appeared in six monthly instalments at £1.99 each) seemed too gimmicky to be successful, but not a bit of it - the combined sales of the instalments amounted to 2,242,339 in these islands, thus gaining King the No. 1 spot. His other paperback release in 1996, Rose Madder, sold 469,481 copies to reach eighteenth place.

Some first novelists rubbed shoulders with the seasoned campaigners: most notably, Nicholas Evans's The Horse Whisperer and Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World made it into the top ten. But there were no Irish authors in the top hundred, which essentially means no Maeve Binchy, who didn't have a paperback release last year. However, expect her 1996 novel, Evening Class (390,000 copies in hardback!), which is due out in Orion paperback in May, to be near the top of next year's list indeed, at the very top, if predictions in the trade magazine, The Bookseller, prove true.

What else from the list? Well, if you need proof that the English are a law-abiding people, look no further than fourth place, occupied by the revised edition of the Highway Code (781,747 copies), and thirtieth place, where you'll find the Complete Theory Test of Driving (339,645).

In general, for those of us who believe in the restorative pleasures of good literature, the list makes depressing reading. There isn't one book in the top hundred that's of genuine literary interest (unless you count Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy, which I don't). So much for the supposed commercial impact of the Booker and the Whitbread.

Still, I was fascinated to learn from the list's compiler, Alex Hamilton, that William Golding's Lord of the Flies sells an average 250,000 copies each year as a Faber stock title. Obviously there are real advantages in having your book chosen as a standard school text.

INCIDENTALLY, I'm glad to see that Bill Bryson's Notes From Ia Small Island makes it to seventeenth place in the top hundred. I mention this because a friend gave me a Christmas present of it in audiobook format and I've been listening to the three-hour abridgment on the car radio. As read by actor Kerry Shale, it's extremely funny.

This is my first (and, I suppose, rather belated) experience of audiobooks, and I can easily see myself getting hooked - not at home, where I'd much prefer to read for myself, but in ears, - where reading is impossible. .

This is also the sentiment of Canon Brian Lougheed in Ballycasheen, Killarney, who writes to say that on long ear journeys he always takes books on tape with him, finding them no more distracting than the radio. He's also got through some books that he wouldn't otherwise have tackled, "like Mansfield Park - once I got past tape one I was determined to hear it all," and Graham Greene's Travels with My Aunt: "What an outrageous character and a very funny book - far better listened to than read, I would think."

Among the purist arguments against books on tape is that they don't provide the same experience as reading and that the texts are often severely abridged, but I've no problem with either of these - I don't expect (or want) the same experience that I get from reading, and I honestly wouldn't be up to enduring the ten hours or whatever's required to listen to someone reading an entire Jane Austen novel.

Obviously if people are using audiobooks as substitutes for reading and if they're assuming that a severely truncated novel is the real thing, there's cause for worry, but if they're simply willing away long journeys by absorbing good writing being read by sensitive performers, where's the problem?

Anyway, audio books are here to stay - just go into Eason's or Waterstones and see the array and variety on offer and you'll realise that, for good or ill, they've become an inescapable part of our cultural life.

STEVE MacDONOGH of Brandon Books writes to say that Jennifer Cornell's book of short stories, All There Is (entitled Departures in the United States) has received reviews "less afflicted by academic verbosity" than the one I reproduced recently from the US-produced Irish Literary Supplement.

"Magical prose," the Irish World declared; "beautifully crafted tales," the Belfast Telegraph enthused; "restrained and subtle," Fortnight thought. Steve is personally very pleased by such reviews, as Ms Connell's book is published by Brandon, but, like myself, he's a confessed admirer of George Orwell's belief in plain speaking, anyway.

ENTRIES for the Kilkenny Prize, now in its fourth year, will be accepted until February 14th next. The competition, open to anyone living in Ireland, is for poetry and short stories, with first prizes of £250 in each category.

Last year's winners were Claire Keegan for her short story, "Storm", and Ivy Bannister for her poem, "Father"; other previous winners have included Noel Monaghan and Aine Miller (who went on to win the Patrick Kavanagh award).

There's an entry fee of £2 for each submission (£10 for six submissions), the stories shouldn't be longer than 3,000 words, no evidence of identity should appear on the manuscript, and you should send your submission to The Kilkenny Prize, Heron Cottage, Tobernabrone, Piltown, Co Kilkenny. Good luck.